There are a lot of changes occurring within the City Parks and Recreation Department. Some of this is business as usual, some of it is due to the economic conditions of the past year. At the top a new Director of Parks and Recreation, Kirk Kincannon, started on May 11th. The Aquatics and Reservoir position under Stacy Cole was split in April or early May. Reservoir operations continues under Stacy and Aquatics is now under an old timer named Tom Kramer.
I sat down and had a very good chat with Tom yesterday (6/11). As an old timer with over 30 years experience in Parks and Rec, Tom has seen numerous administrations come and go. He has also witnessed BAM from the inception. Tom sees the bigger picture associated with the Rec centers and the part that BAM plays within them. Tom summarized his philosophy about aquatics in three simple statements that I believe would ring true with everyone in the BAM organization which are:
- Aquatics has got to be safe
- Aquatics has got to be clean
- Aquatics has got to be well maintained.
While simple in concept he and his team have been having some issues living up to them this summer. Tom recognizes this and is working with his team to diligently correct the issues and improve the overall quality of the program. He values BAM and the benefit it brings to the system.
We got to talking about the future a little bit as well. Tom would like BAM to help inform the department about the swimmer’s needs. The current economic conditions make it hard to say for sure what the future will hold but with honest conversations between BAM and the City Parks & Recreation Department we can ensure it meets all our patron’s needs.
How do you view the City’s aquatic services? Are there areas you would like to see improved? Are you generally happy swimming at City facilities? Let me hear your opinion.
Overall - I’m fairly happy. The things that are most important to me are…
Open on time
Lifeguard on time
Decent water temp in the pool
Hot showers
It seems to come and go in waves and it’s hard to get all 4 to line up at the same time.
I guess the last thing that is important to me is cost. It’s gotta be reasonably priced to swim and good value for money (see 4 points above). I think BAM brings a large number of swimmers to the pool who might not be there otherwise.
Adding the summer res swims and being able to use my annual pass to get into the res at other times has definitely upped the value.